S i la s g



SILAS G. MUMFORD, OF NORTH PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

ivinoninn ron sirname Aranci-Juanma WOOL, COTTON, ac.

spe-,Cineman or Letters Patent No. 3,516, dated March 2e, 1844.

To all whom/25 may concern;

Be it known that I, SILS Gr. MUMroRD, of North Providence, in the Stateof Rhode Island, have invented a new and Vuseful .machine for thepurpose of cleaning wool "by separating therefrom the burs and otherforeign substances frequently contained in it and which may alsobeapplied to the cleaning of cotton and other fibrous substances; and I dohereby declare'that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof.

In the accompanying drawing Figure 1, is a top view of my machine, thecovers of the toothed cylinders which are to operate upon the wool,being removed for the purpose of exhibiting their arrangement. Fig. 2,1s a vertical section through `the middle of the machine, from end toend.

`In each of these gures, where the same parts are shown they aredesignated by the same letters of reference.

The picking, or cleaning, of the wool is to be effected, principally bymeans of a revolving cylinder, or revolving cylinders, set with teeth,and which may be covered with sheetiron; in the drawing, I haverepresented three such cylinders, but the machine may be made with oneonly, the additional, or auxiliary, cylinders being intended to operateupon such portions of the wool as, from its knotted condition, mayescape the action of the first cylinder; such wool may, however, ifpreferred, be subjected a second time to the operation of a one-cylindermachine.

I usually make the cylinder, or cylinders, about eighteen inches long,and twenty-eight inches in diameter; and into each of them I insertteeth about four inches long, making their whole diameter about threefeet. In the drawing, these cylinders are lettered A, B, and C. Thatmarked A, is to be considered as the principal cylinder, and asessential to the machine, those marked B, and C, being auxiliary only;but I prefer, in general, to use them in combination with the principalcylinder, and shall, therefore, de-

scribe the machine as containing them. The

cylinder A, I usually elevate so as to stand above B, and C, thelatterbeing on the same range with each other. By thus elevating thecylinder A, I` obtain room for the feeding apron and its appendages. Iallow a space of eight inches, more or less, clear of the teeth, betweenthe cylinders A, and B;

the cylinders B, and C, are placedV so near The wool to be cleaned is tobe fed in through an opening on the side of themachine, so as to pass onto an endless apron, which carries 1t to a pair of feed rollers betweenwhich it is gripped, and by which it is presented to the action of theteeth A A of the cylinder A. The feed opening is seen at I-I; and I, isthe endless apron which carries the wool up to the feed rollers J, andK; these, being small, say from two to three inches in diameter, aremade of iron. The roller K, should Vbe `fluted from end to end, toenable it to take hold of the wool. As this is passed up between thefeeding rollers, it is presented tothe action of the teeth A,

on the cylinder A; these teeth, in their revolution, coming nearly intocontact with said feeding rollers.

L, L, is a partition extending from side to side of the machine,separating the feeding chamber I-I, containing `the endless apron, fromthe space in which the cylinder, A, revolves; the edge L', of thispartition, which is nearly in contact with the feed roller, K, should bearmed with iron, as it is intended to sustain the wool while it is beingacted upon by the teeth of the cylinder.

M, M, is a partition, which may be of` sheet-iron, extending from sideto side of the machine; at its lower edge it joins the iioor N, N, whichextends along under the cylinders, B, and O, to the rear end of themachine, forming the upper side of a hollow trunk, O, O, O, which isopen at the end, P,

`chamber I-I.

The respectivecylinders and rollers are made to revolve by means ofwhirls and bands, and in the direction indicated by the arrows. Thecylinders should revolve with great velocity, say one thousand times perminute. This may be effected by any adequate power, and does not requirefurther description. The feeding roller, J, is borne up by weightedlevers acting upon its gudgeons at either side of the machine, as shownat Fig. 3. rlhe tension of the feeding apron may likewise be governed ina similar manner, or by springs acting on its lower roller, B; but,instead of this roller, l sometimes allow the apron to pass around astationary iron rod, the tension of which is preserved by a spring.

l/llhen the cylinder, A, is made to revolve with the speed aboveindicated, it will create a current of wind which will be directedthrough the hollow trunk O, O, toward its opening at P; and as its teethA', are brought into contact with t-he wool presented to them by thefeeding rollers, they will beat the burs, motes, and other foreignmatter, out from the wool, toward the rear of the machine, as at S,where, when one cylinder only is used, they will be allowed to escape.The wool, from its lightness; will be carried up by the current of airbetween the cylinder, A, and its concave cover, and through the trunk,O, which in this case will not be carried so far back as when threecylinders are used. With the burs and motes, the more matted knots ofwool will be thrown out; and when three cylinders are employed, asrepresented in the drawing, these will be thrown on to the teeth of thecylinder, B, will be carried around by them, and be acted upon by theteeth B, of the concave, and B2, of the cylinders; and they will, inlike manner, be acted upon by the teeth C2 of the third cylinder and itsconcave, by which the foreign matter will be finally thrown out, whilethe wool which has been separated from it, will, by the current of air,be carried forward under the rollers, B, and C, will ascend with thewool separated by the first roller, through the space Gr, and becarriedout through theV trunk O, O.

Having thus fully described the nature of my improvements in the machinefor burring, or cleaning, wool, and other fibrous substances, what Iclaim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. rifhe manner in which l have arranged and combinedthe cylinder A,with its concave; the feeding apron and rollers by which .the wool ispresented to the action of the individually, but I limit my claim to thef combination and arrangement of the said parts so as to constitute amachine constructed substantially as described.

SILAS Gr. MUMFORD.

l/Vitnesses:

BENJAMIN POTTER, r., O'ris D. POTTER.

